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WHAT’S THE DEAL?
This week’s best travel bargains around the globe.
LAND
BedandBreakfast.com is offer- ing 15 percent off the room rates of about 2,000 properties. Dis- count applies to stays of at least two nights booked April 15-May 31. Search for B&Bs in the Find an Inn box on the home page; qual- ifying inns feature a green Book It label. Travel by Aug. 31. For exam- ple, a $195 room at Chestnut Hill Bed and Breakfast in Orange, Va., is $165.75 a night, or $331.50 for two nights, with the promotion. Add about $16 in taxes. Book at www.bedandbreakfast.com using promo code BBCELEBRATE15.
HOMER SYKES/ALAMY
More than a dozen hotels, inns and resorts on Amelia Island, Fla., are offering a free night on stays of three or four nights. Re- quirements for the free night vary per property. Offerings include the Summer Beach Resort (800- 862-9297, www.summerbeach. com; from $255 plus $28 taxes, through June 5); Fairbanks House (888-891-9882, www. fairbankshouse.com; from $175 plus $19 taxes, weeknights only through Dec. 21); and Amelia Ho- tel at the Beach (904-206-5200, www.ameliahotel.com; from $118 weekdays plus $13 taxes, $139 weekends plus $15 taxes, through December). For a complete list:
www.ameliaisland.com/free.
Several New York properties
in the Luxe hotel chain have spring deals. For example, the Hotel Chandler (866-627-7847, www.hotelchandler.com; use booking code SPRING), a bou- tique property in the Murray Hill neighborhood, is offering 15 per- cent off its nightly rates — a dou- ble room ordinarily $255 is going for $217, including taxes — plus a free drink per night; good through Sept. 6. The Dylan Hotel (866-553-9526, www.dylanhotel. com; use booking code SPRING10) in Midtown has 10 percent off its standard rates (rate is now $324, down from $381, including taxes), plus a bot- tle of wine at check-in, buffet breakfast and complimentary up- grade based on availability. Valid through June. For a list of partici- pating hotels: www.luxehotels.
com/NYSpring.
Six Senses Resorts & Spas is of-
A Virgin Vacations deal includes London’s Chelsea Flower Show.
fering a voluntourism incentive
package at its two luxury re- sorts in the Maldives, Soneva Gi-
li and Soneva Fushi. With the Eco Season offer, available June 1-Oct. 12, guests who book five nights at the Indian Ocean resorts get an additional five nights free in ex- change for 25 hours of communi- ty service during the first five days of their stay (five hours a day). Projects include marine conservation, waste manage- ment, carbon mitigation and youth education. The offer may be combined between both re- sorts. A five-night stay in a sea- view villa at Soneva Fushi is $2,675 for two people, plus $401 in fees and taxes. Info: www.
sixsenses.com.
AIR
Air France is offering Super
Spring Saver fares from Wash-
ington to several European cit- ies, including Paris and Madrid. Flights from Washington Dulles to Paris, for example, start at $343 each way for departures through May 15. For a midweek trip in late April, round-trip fare is $863, including taxes. Nonstop round trips on other airlines start at more than $1,000. Weekend surcharge of $20 to $30 each way applies; minimum Sunday-night stay required. Book by April 20. Info: www.airfrance.com/us.
SEA
Cunard Cruise Line is taking
$1,000 off its 2010 Mediterra-
nean voyages on the Queen Vic- toria. For example, after the dis-
count, a balcony stateroom on the Sept. 1 Mediterranean Magic cruise — a 12-day trip from South- ampton, England, to Venice — costs $2,595 per person double (add $53 in taxes). On the Ancient Treasures cruise departing Nov. 12, balcony rooms on the 12-day round trip from Italy’s Port of Ci- vitavecchia to Greece, Turkey, Cy- prus and Egypt go for $1,995 per person double (add $55 in taxes). Info: 800-7-CUNARD, www.
cunard.com.
PACKAGES
Virgin Vacations has a London package that includes a full day at the Royal Horticultural Soci-
ety’s Chelsea Flower Show. Deal
costs $1,196 per person double and includes nonstop round-trip air from Washington Dulles, six nights at the three-star Ibis Lon- don City Hotel, daily continental breakfast and a ticket to the flow- er show on May 29. Add $161 in taxes. Priced separately, airfare runs about $1,000, hotel $661 and the flower show $68. Book by April 26. The flower show runs May 25-29. Info: 888-937-8474,
www.virgin-vacations.com.
— K.C. Summers
whatsthedeal@washpost.com. Please include your phone number and e-mail address. Prices were verified Thursday afternoon when the Travel section went to press, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Restrictions such as blackout dates and advance purchase may apply.
must contain at least one Chihuahua anecdote. I know, because I’ve written many of them. So let’s get right to Robin Boggs and her travel companion, Cricket. Boggs, a consultant in Atlanta, frequently packs her nine-pound dog in her carry-on luggage. But like an increasing number of travelers, she doesn’t tell anyone. She’s been caught twice, and the airline has forced her to pay a $150 surcharge for the pet. “When I asked why I had to
T
pay a fee in order to stuff my dog under the seat in front of me, I was told it was their policy,” she said. “I concluded that it’s really just a ploy to charge another fee.” A lot of travelers have been arriving at the same conclusion lately, although exact numbers are difficult to come by. Instead of paying extra “pet fees” to hotels or airlines, they’re spiriting their animal companions into their bags or under blankets in the hope of saving a few bucks. They are also bending the truth when it comes to their pets, said Ami Moore, a Chicago-based canine behaviorist. One wealthy client recently offered Moore $10,000 to “certify” her dog as a service animal, which would have given the animal a free ride. She refused. Why lie about your dog? Amy Luwis, a recent guest at a luxury hotel in Savannah, Ga., persuaded the staff to waive the nonrefundable $150 pet deposit fees for her pit bull by dressing the dog in a “cute reflective red vest” and carrying an official-looking badge, which left the hotel staff with the impression that the dog was a service animal. “I’m not proud of this
charade,” said Luwis, the co-founder of a pet adoption Web site. “But after 20 years of being relegated to the dank, bad hotel rooms and too many stays in biohazard motels — or worse, having no place to stay at all — I decided to take matters into my
KLMNO
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SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010
How much is that doggie in the handbag?
THE NAVIGATOR
Christopher Elliott
here’s an unwritten rule in travel journalism that any story about pets on planes
own hands and fool the general public.” She’s got a point. Pet owners
have good reasons for smuggling Fido or Fluffy in their carry-ons. Many airlines have raised their pet fees so high that they’re often more than the price of the owner’s ticket. And more hotels are adding nonrefundable pet deposits to the quarters they allow dog and cat owners to occupy, which are often the worst rooms in the house. In other words, pets and their owners are in the doghouse. Hotel owners have a different
perspective, as you might expect. Elaine Fitzgerald owns and
On most airlines and in hotels, pets and their owners are in the doghouse.
operates a group of small inns in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area. She offers one cat-approved unit out of 25 rental apartments but dreads the occupants who secretly bring kitty along. “I’m not concerned about
damage,” said Fitzgerald, who is a cat owner herself. “It’s cat dander. One in seven people are highly allergic to it. A cat in a unit, even for a day or two, literally poisons it for future guests. It’s even worse than cigarette smoke.” The airline industry’s reasons for its restrictive pet policies are slightly different. Although it appears that air carriers are just trying to find another way to get money out of their passengers, it really comes down to the fact that they don’t consider themselves in the pet transportation business and want to discourage people from bringing animals on the plane. Maybe that’s one reason we now have Pet Airways, a pets-only air carrier that launched last summer and now serves seven
cities, including New York, Baltimore, Chicago and Los Angeles. It does seem somewhat counterintuitive to alienate pet owners, who, after all, spent an estimated $45 billion on their furry companions last year despite the recession. And to be sure, some businesses have embraced pets. Best Western, for example, has begun marketing itself as “pet friendly” with a Web site for pet owners who travel (bwff.com) and a Web application that merges your picture with your pet’s to create what it calls “a hilarious merged image” that can be shared with your family. The question that has largely
gone unasked amid the traveling-pets scuffle is this one: If your animal could talk, would it ask to join you on vacation? “Your best friend loves being able to be at your side any time,” said Maria Goodavage, author of “Dog Lover’s Companion to California,” one of the “Dog Lover’s Companion” series. “He’s there for you through thick and thin. Why leave him behind when you finally have time off to relax and enjoy life?” I can understand that sentiment as a pet owner (three Bengal cats, who are watching me even as I write this). But I can’t bring myself to anthropomorphize my furry friends. In fact, I think it’s kind of insulting. My kitties would prefer to stay at home, where they have a predictable supply of cat food and toys. I miss them when I’m away, but that’s my problem. Many pet owners reading this
will take their dogs and cats along anyway, because they believe their pets can’t possibly live without them. If you do, find a pet-friendly hotel and don’t hide the animal. It’s bad enough that you’re taking the creature out of its normal environment. Why make it deal with the stress of your lie, too?
Elliott is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate. E-mail him at
celliott@ngs.org.
Stop looking at your vacation screensaver.
Start looking at the hotel and flight package savings below.
IT’S TIME FOR A SAVECATION!
Hotel&Flight 3Nights from
$319 $275
Hotel&Flight 3Nights from
$239 $371
Hotel&Flight 4Nights from
$807 $586
Hotel&Flight 4Nights from
$636 $1035
Book now at orbitz.com! Seats and rooms are going fast!
Hotel&Flight 4Nights from
$788 $725
Hotel&Flight 4Nights from
$1164 $1274
Sample prices are per person based on double occupancy. Rates are subject to change without notice. Cancellation penalties, blackout dates, and other restrictions may apply. Prices based on select midweek departures fromWashington, D.C. and may vary by length of stay, departure date and class of service selected. Prices were accurate as of March 22, 2010. Other terms and fees may apply.
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